Raaevik waited for thebut.There was always abut.You didn't get summoned to the private study just to be told to stop punching rookies.
Rising from his seat, Daaynal walked to the viewport.Devan Station rotated slowly, the blue-white curve of Earth filling the view.It was a beautiful planet.
"The shuttle incident," he said, his back to the room."Tech crews finished their analysis an hour ago."
Raaevik stiffened."And?"
“You were correct.It was sabotage.Some cosmetic damage on the outside of the shuttle to draw you in.If you’d managed to deal with the door, the power couplings were also fused."Daaynal turned around, and the exhaustion was gone, replaced by a cold, hard anger.“Which would have left you and my match the perfect target.It wasn't an accident, Raaevik.It was an attempt."
A chill slid down Raaevik’s spine.
“An attempt,” he said.It wasn't a question.
"Assassination.Abduction.Take your pick.We don't know which yet."Daaynal walked back to his desk, tapping a command into the console.A holographic image of the shuttle's gutted wiring flickered into existence between them."Someone knew she was coming.Someone knew exactly which office she was in and which mode of transport she would be on.And they wanted to make sure she never reached the station."
Raaevik stared at the jagged, melted ends of the couplings.If he hadn't reacted when he did...if he hadn't dragged her into that alleyway...
"Who?"he asked, his voice low.
"We don't know.Intelligence is scrubbing the comms, but whoever did this covered their tracks well."Daaynal deactivated the hologram."But that is not why you are here."
Walking around the desk, he closed the distance between them and stopped a foot away, close enough that Raaevik had to tilt his head back to meet the Emperor's gaze.Daaynal was a big male, broad and powerful, with a presence that usually made lesser males shrink.
Not Raaevik.He just waited.
"I have enemies," Daaynal said, his voice dropping.“Both within the Empire and without.The treaty with Earth is controversial.My choice to take a human mate...even more so.Even though we have no females left for me to produce an heirwith,some factions believe I am diluting the bloodline.Weakening the throne.”
"Traitors," Raaevik spat.
"Perhaps.Or perhaps just fools who fear change."Daaynal sighed."But Emily...she is innocent in this.She didn't ask for this match.She didn't ask to be a target."
They could agree on that.
"No.She didn't."
She'd fought him in that office.She'd fought him in the alley.She was fighting everything about this, kicking and screaming against a future she hadn't chosen.
"I cannot watch her every moment of the day,” Daaynal said."I have an Empire to run.Wars to manage.Trade disputes to settle.I cannot be her shadow.I cannot be her shield.”
He placed a hand on Raaevik's shoulder.It was a heavy, grounding weight.
"You and your comrades are my guard, but I need you to become something else, Raaevik.Not just a warrior who follows orders.I need a warrior who will throw himself in front of a threat without a microsecond of hesitation.Someone who will value the empress’s life above his own."
Raaevik's pulse jumped.
"Your Majesty.”He shook his head."I am a warrior.My duty is to the Throne."
"Your duty is where I assign it."Daaynal's grip on his shoulder tightened in warning."I saw the footage from the alleyway.I saw how you covered her, how you moved.You didn't wait for backup.You acted."
"It was just instinct, Your Majesty.”
"Exactly.And that’s what I need… that instinct."Daaynal looked him in the eye."I am assigning you as Emily’s permanent personal guard.You will shadow her.You will sleep outside her door.You will vet every person who comes within ten feet of her.If she moves, you move.If she breathes, you are there to ensure the air is clean."
Raaevik's stomach dropped.
Shadow her.Sleep outside her door.Be close enough to smell her, to hear her heartbeat, to watch the way her dark curls fell over her eyes.It was a death sentence.It was torture, pure and simple.
Raaevik felt sick.
